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So I just finished reading the first book. (I haven't seen the TV series yet as I don't have HBO or Sky.) When I picked it up I really knew nothing about the story save that it was fantasy-genre set on an alternate world.

As a student of English History my first impression was that it felt very much like The Wars of the Roses. No doubt others have made that observation as well. On the whole it was a pretty good read. The ending felt a bit ambiguous, I had expected them to resolve more of the issues - but otherwise not bad at all.

Would be great to hear the opinion of others. (Ideally without too many spoilers on the later books).

I loved the series. And as Beithir said, don't expect any issues to be resolved at the end of ANY of the books. Think of it more as one giant book broken into smaller chunks rather than a series as they are normally done.

There's definitely some parallels. I think he said somewhere that he didn't want the books to be too similar to actual events so that people don't assume they know what'll happen next, but they exist...

Don't think you need to worry too much about spoilers, either. The fan community as a whole prefers to watch people find out certain plot points for themselves...and chuckle quietly at their reactions.

I never knew that about the War of the Roses, but that is interesting. I might have to read up on it. The books always leave a lot unanswered. I almost feel that the middle of the books answer the most questions. The last part just brings up things that get left to halfway through the next book.